There are various kinds of goods
and the parties have various options to agree about the delivery of the goods.
What shall be the fate of a contract if the goods are perished or destroyed?

Destruction before making of
contract -- Where in a contract for sale of specific goods, at the time of
making the contract, the goods, without knowledge of the seller, have perished
or become so damaged as no longer to answer to their
description in the contract, the contract shall become null and void. This is
based on the rule of impossibility of performance. Since the subject matter of
the contract, which is one of its essential ingredients, itself
is destroyed, the contract cannot be carried out.

'Perishing of goods' includes
not only complete destruction of the goods when the seller has been
irretrievably deprived by the goods or when the goods have been stolen or have
in some other way been lost and are untraceable, but also when the goods become
un merchantable i.e. when the goods has lost their commercial value.

Destruction After the Agreement to
Sell but before Sale -- Where in an agreement to sell specific goods, if
subsequently the goods, without any fault on the part of the seller of buyer,
perish or become so damaged as no longer answer to their description in the
agreement, the agreement shall become void, provided the goods are perished
before the ownership and risk passes to the buyer. This rule is based on the
ground of impossibility of performance.

If the title to be goods has
already passed to the buyer, he must pay for the goods though the same cannot
be delivered.

Documents of Title to Goods

A document of title to goods is
one, which entitles and enables its rightful holder to deal with the goods
represented by it, as if he were the owner. It is used in the ordinary course
of business as proof of the ownership, possession or control of goods. It authorizes the possessor to receive the goods. It also
confers a right on the possessor to transfer the goods to another person, by
mere delivery or by proper endorsement the delivery.

Cash memo, bill of lading, dock
warrant, warehouse keeper's or wharfinger's
certificate, lorry receipt (L/R), railway receipt (R/R) and delivery order are
some of the instances of document of title to goods.